Acral melanoma

Abstract

Acral melanoma is a melanoma that affects acral areas of the skin, which is the most prevalent site of melanoma in non-Caucasians [5, 10]. Strictly speaking, acral lentiginous melanoma is not a synonym for acral melanoma. Acral lentiginous melanoma, originally described by Reed in 1976 [21], is one of the four histogenetic types defined by Clark et al. [6]. Almost all acral lentiginous melanomas occur on glabrous (nonhair- bearing) acral skin. Superficial spreading melanomas also occur on acral skin, but they are mostly seen on non-glabrous portions such as dorsal aspects of the hands and feet; however, superficial spreading melanomas can occur also on glabrous skin [12]. Furthermore, nodular melanomas are seen on both glabrous and nonglabrous acral skin. © 2007 Springer-Verlag.